this is where a photo really helps.  if the picture looks recent, I can sometimes determine the body type. I don't mind lots of extra pounds if there is still a waist line or the pounds are in the right places.

in the past, when I dated through the personals, "a few extra pounds" generally did not mean rubenesque.  it meant sloppy and sometimes highly overweight.  for the most part, i now interpret it to mean: I am not within the weight norms of american television and/or health charts. If I can't see a full-body picture, I generally assume the worst. no pic no play.